Means for shipping fruit, etc



'Apr'. 1o, 1923. 1,451,070

F. A. HIGERD ET AL MEANS FOR SHIPPING FRUIT ETC Filed Apr. 17, 1922 FGJI.

2 sheets-sheet 1 Filed Apr.

F I ELE- F. A. HlGERD ET AL MEANS FOR SHIPPING FRUIT, ETC

Apr. 10,1923.4

la l Patented Apr. l, 1923.

UNITED STATES iastate earner orties.; 1

'.ELOYD A. HIGERD, OF BELLEVUE, IENNSYLVANIA., AND GEORGE BECKER, OF SILVER CREEK, NEW YORK, ASSIGNORS TO H. J'. HEINZ COMPANY, OF PITTSBURGH, PENN- SYLVANIA, A CORPORATION OF PENNSYLVANIA. l

MEANS For. SHIPPING FRUIT, Ero.

l Application led April 17, 1922. Serial No. 553,655.

To @ZZ whom t ma/ z/ concer/n.:

Be it known that we, FLOYD A. IIIGERD, residing at Bellevue, in the county of Allegheny and State of Pennsylvania, and GEORGE BECKER, residing at Silver Creek, in the county of Chautauqua and State ofNew York, citizens of the United States, have invented or discovered certain new and useful Improvements in Mean-s for Shipping Fruit, Etc., of which improvements the following is a specification.

Our invention relates to improvements in means for shipping fruit, and is, as present ly will be apparent, applicable to the transportation of all sorts of delicate and easily crushed articles. We have developed it in the `shipment of fresh tomatoes, and in that particular application we shall describe it;

- its wider applicability will be manifest.

The objects of invention are, primarily, the ability to makelarge. shipments in relatively small space. Incidentally, we have developed a container which is convenient, durable, economical, and requires but little space in shipment in quantity when empty and in storage. In the accompanying drawings Figures I, II, and III are view in plan from above, in side elevation, and in transverse vertical section (on the plane indicated by the line III-III, Figure II) of a single container in which and in the use of which our invention is found. Figures IV and V are views to smaller scale, showing, in plan from above and in side elevation, a collocationy 0f containers, such as that of Figures I-III, in which' collocation the invention is fully realized.

In the shipment of such soft and perishable articles as tomatoes the permissible size of a unit container is manifestly limited b-y the nature of the article: the container may not be so large that tomatoes placed in the bottom of the container will be crushed by the superposed mass of fruit. In fruitgrowing regions, when the crop is being gathered and shipped, there is great demand for freight cars, and that unit container is best which, other things being equal, will make possible the filling of a freight car with ythe greatest possible loadvof tomatoes, the rload vbeing safe against damage in consequence of great weight, and being so conditioned, inthe matter of air circulation, as

to preserve the fruit in good condition dur- .ing transportation. Qur invention is found in a container which is adapted to meet these conditions in best manner.

The container of our invention is a basket, rectangular in plan, flat-bottomed, somewhat longer l than wide, somewhat wider'y than deep, its sides extend each in avsingle plane, and they slopel and flare, from the bottom upwardly.` rllhe actual dimensions of the basket which we have successfully worked out for tomatoes are these: at the top, 13t by 19 inches; at the bottom 1.0 by 1412 inches; depth, 9 inches. These dimensions kwebelieveto be best, considering the conditions of service indicated'above, and considering also ease and convenience ofhandlingnin loading and unloading. The rectangular shape in plan andthe sloping side walls are, as presently will more fully appear, important features.

. The material of which the basket is made is not a matter of controlling importance; but thin splint-wood, widely used Vfor such purposes is best. It is light and porous and suiiiciently pliant and resilient under weight and stress. The basket as we preferito make it consists of a bottom board l (which ordinarily will be heavier than thethin-splint wood alluded to) sides 2, which are made of such thin-splint wood, and strengthening and securing bands. An outer .band 3 overlies the side splints at the bottom, and through it the side splints may be nailed to the bottom board. Innerand outer bands 4 and 5 bind between themthe upper edges of the side splints and constitute the rim of the basket. These band-s 3,- fl, and 5 are preferably formed of wood, serving y.after the manner of barrel hoops. Strengthening and stiffening angle irons 6, 7, and 8 may be providedat the corners, angle 6 below, secured through band 3- andiV splint-wood sides to bottom board 1*,and angles 7-,and8 above` the one within the other without and riveted together, through bands 4 ando and-through the splint-wood wall. Y r

Ihestrips of splint .woodiwhich constitute the side walls ofjthejba-sket wilhordinarily be spaced apart,.at-the edgessomewhat as indicated at a. These spacesmay at the ends be widened, as indcatedat to affordl hand holes, beneath the binding bands.

Along opposite margins above (preferably the longermargins, if the basket be longer than wide) the splints extend interruptedly above the binding bands 4 and 5, to form the castellated edge, best shown in Fig. II: at a plurality of opposite points c, c, and d, CZ, the edges of the splints, which'elsewhere extend a short distance. above the binding bands, are cut away, flush with the bands. Thus opposite notches are formed in the rim of the basket, and the edges of bands 4 and 5 form the bottoms of these notches. y

Turning to Figures IV and V, the purpose of these notches will be manifest. Here vis shown an assembly of identical baskets, stacked together after the manner employed when a freight car or other vehicle is loaded withl baskets full of fresh fruit. The frame of a freight car is indicated at l0; the floor at 11. There is a -succession of vertically superposed tiers. The baskets of each tier are set close. rim to rim and corner to corner, so that the open tops of the baskets of any one tier completely occupy the plane in which the rims extend. Billets 9 are laid across, above each basket of each inferior tier, the ends of the billets resting in the aligned notches c and d of adjacent baskets. And on these billets so laid the baskets of the superposed tier directly rest. rI`he upstanding splints which delimit the notches on either side insure proper placement of the billets; the notches are sufficiently wide to receive the ends of two billets laid side by 'y side; the upstanding edges of the splints do not rise so high as the thickness of thevbillets; the billets are conveniently madebut little longer than the width of a. single basket.

In filling a freight car with baskets of our invention it may and commonly will be preferable to use longer billets extending throughout the .width of the car and each extending above several baskets, and this departure from the minute showing of the drawings is an obvious one.

Comparing Figures IV and V, it will be remarked that, in consequence of the continuous contact of edges of adjacent baskets, and of the opposite inclination of side walls of adjacent baskets upwardly to a line of contact, the assembled baskets and billets form a relatively rigid well-braced structure. At. the Sametime, the spaces in the assemblyyconseqiient upon the inclination of the side walls'of "the baskets, taken together with the ventilatingspaces'in the structure of the side walls, and n.the absence of any elese` fitting" closures upon the individual 'baskets insuresV the air circulation requisite tokeep such soft and perishable fruit as to- Inatoes, particularly when so closely packed,

good condition.

Hit'herto, sov far as we are aware, no other .Containerv fi toiriatoes,` excepting only parallel-sided, square-cornered crates, can be packed in freight cars to a height of more than three or four tiers. Such crates, if they are to keep their position under the strains and jars of haulage must be packed in close Contact, and when so packed ventilation is insufficient, and the fruit will rapidly spoil. Furthermore, a vertical-walled container is not well adapted for carrying soft fruit, for the underlying fruit sustains the full weight of the superposed mass. The side walls afford no aid. Consequently vertical-walled crates are used chieiiy for such firm fruit as melons, apples, and oranges; if used for softer fruits, they must be made very shallow. The only containers, heretofore available which when assembled afford the requisite ventilation are the ordinary round peach basketsfvand they are such in structure that when assembled in tiers, the whole assembly is weak; they underlying baskets cannot sustain great superposed loads without deformation and consequent crushing of the fruit. As a matter of fact peach baskets filled with tomatoes may not safely be stacked in freight cars to a height of more than four tiers. Our baskets may be stacked to a height of eight or more tiers, practically filling the freight car. With our invention a freight car may carry twice as many tomatoes safely as when peach baskets are the only available containers. Furthermore, in stacking peach baskets it is the practice to use small metal clamps, binding basket to basket, rim to rim. These often loosen and lose themselves in the fruit, and become subsequently a cause of injury to machinery.

Our empty bas-kets may be nested, as parallel-sided crates may not, and being nested may be transported and stored with greatest economy of space. They are lighter than crates; less material is required for a given capacity. An ordinary peach basket has a life of two years; our basket will endure far longer Servicer-as much, we have reason to believe, as eight or ten seasons. Its initially greater cost than a peach basket finds full compensation (and more) in durability.

Considering the loaded freight car, the contained tomatoes are segregated into pockets of maximum size, all things considered, disposed in best position, each free ofthe stresses and strains incident to the bringing together of many such units in superposed tiers.`

We claim as our invention:

l. A container for fragilearti'cles having side walls formed of strips of sheet material, bound at the rim by a transversely extend'- ing band, the strips of sheet material extend'- ing interruptedly beyond and above the band and forming withthe band a notched rim.'

2. An lassembly of two containers and a plurality' of billets, the nether container hav'- `lng side walls formed' of strips of sheet inavso terial, bound at the rim by a transversely extending band, the strips of sheet material extending interruptedly beyond and above the band and forming with the band a plurality of pairs of opposite notches in the rim, the said billets resting each in a pair of opposite notches and the upper container restin on said billets.

3. n assembly of containers for fragile articles, each container having inclined side walls, a polygonal rim, and notched upper edges, the containers being assembled in superposed tiers, the containers of each tier standing rim to rim, billets laid in the notches of the rims of an inferior tier, and the containers of the superior tier resting on the billets of the interior tier.

4l. An assembly of containers for fragile articles, each container being rectangular in plan and having inclined side Walls and having aligned notches in opposite rims, the

containers being assembled in tiers, the con tainers of each tier standing edge -to edge" billets borne by the containers of the nextinferior tier, the lWhole assembly being, in virtue of such features of shape and arrangement, braced to resist crushing strain, substantially as described. v

In testimony Whereofwe have hereunto set our hands.

FLOYD A. HIGERD. GEORGE BECKER. Witnesses as to Higerd:

E. D. MCCAFFERTY, y J. E. MAXWELL. Witnesses as to Becker:

JOHN L. Hmmm7` 4H. S. PRATT. 

